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Books you would recommend, in preparation for visiting Italy.

I love reading the Fodor's forums, for all the wonderful advice, but also for all the inside tips which make a trip so memorable.

I am traveling to Italy for the first time in March, and would love to have your advice on books to read before I go and during my trip. We will be visiting Rome, Florence, Venice and Pompeii. I really enjoy interestingly written non-fiction and historical fiction. I know I've seen Ross King recommended as an author about Italy, but I was wondering if there were any other books that you would recommend.

I am also combining this trip with a visit to Cairo, so if you have recommendations for that too, they would be appreciated.

I look forward to the responses. And hopefully this thread will bring someone the other suggestions together into one thread for future readers.

I just read Steven Saylor's Roma and found it to be very good. It is more of a series of novellas, tracing one family from before the founding of Rome to the ~1 AD. There are a fair number of books/series dating to the end of the Republic/the early Empire, but I haven't seen much that goes way back. He also has a mystery series set at the end of the Republic. Additional series might include Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome (starting with The First Man in Rome), Lindsey Davis' Falco (stating with The Silver Pigs), and John Roberts Maddox's SQPR (starting with SPQR I: The King's Gambit). If you're into mysteries, check out http://italian-mysteries.com/ where you can search by location or time period.

For biographies, look into Anthony Everitt's Augustus and Cicero. For biographical fiction, try I, Cladius by Robert Graves,

You might also consider some ancient writings. I thought Suetonius' Twelves Caesars and Caesar's The Civil War were good.

If you're into architecture, I enjoyed Rome from the Ground Up and Venice from the Ground Up, both combination architectural histories and guides.

I would also add a "must" read for Pompeii being Pompeii by Robert Harris.

The other thread you were given has some embedded threads so many of these suggestions may be on those. I know I have listed some of them in the past. Definitely read the Ross King books, too, for Florence and Rome

HISTORICAL FICITON
I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves (or watch the BBC version with Derek Jacobi)
Augustus by John Williams
Julian by Gore Vidal
The Passion of ARtemisia by Susan Vreeland
The Name of the Rose--umberto Ecco

NON-FICTION
The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr (about the search for a missing Caravaggio)
The Genius In the Design: Bernini, Borromini and the Rivalry that Transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey
Pasquale's Nose by Michael Rips (American writer in Sutri, near Rome)
Tim Parks' 3 non fiction works about Italy: Italian Neighbors, Italian Education and A Season with Verona (British author living in Italy)
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinnis (following a soccer team for a year)
Mary McCarthy: The Stones of Florence and Venice Observed
City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Venice)
Songbirds, Truffles and Wolves: An American Naturalist in Italy by Gary Paul Nabdan
On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal by Mary Taylor Simeti

You didn't ask about MYSTERIES but others might be interested and these could be light reading for the trip:
Donna Leon for Venice
Magdalen Nabb for Florence
David Hewson for Rome
Michael Dibdin -- set all around Italy
Iain Pears art history-related

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie is quite excellent, it is a fascinating account of the roots of the mafia and how and why it grew over the years. If you like historical non-fiction, do check this one out.

Angels and Demons is by Dan Brown, about a papal election. There is another similar recent thriller based on events after the death of John Paul II: God's Spy by Spanish author Juan Gomez-Jurado. Neither is great literature by any stretch of the imagination. My teen age son had read Angels and Demons before our trip to Rome last year and did pick up some bits of information about major Roman tourist sites from it

I am currently reading "Lucia - A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon" by Andrea Di Robilant. I love historical fiction, and so far I have found this book to be very interesting. The author has recreated his great, great, great, great grandmother's life based on letters she wrote that have been passed down through the centuries. You might also like "The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant, which takes place in 15th century Florence.

I loved the Dan Brown novels - especially "Angels and Demons." I had read "Angels and Demons" prior to visiting Rome and the Vatican, and it was so interesting to have some background regarding how a new Pope is chosen. I actually re-bought the book from a bookstore in Rome to re-read while on vacation there.

The Ross King book I think you mean is "Brunelleschi's Dome" about the building of the dome on the Duomo in Florence.

Also, for non-fiction I like "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" The only drawback is that there aren't any really good color illustrations in the book, only small ones, so also get a big picture book from the library to look at the frescoes.

"Galileo's Daughter" is based on letters the daughter, a nun in florence, wrote to her father and is a very good biography of him -- and her.

"The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi" is a novel about a Jewish woman living in the Renaissance.

The two TV series, "I, claudius" and "Rome" are pretty good at depicting the history of the rulers of ancient Rome, although it's not entirely accurate. But the general lifestyle and look of the place is good. Be aware that "Rome" is NOT for children. I don't know if it really is x-rated, but I think it is.

Some of my favorite fictional novels are Pompeii and Imperium - A Novel of Ancient Rome by Robert Harris, In the Company of the Courtesan and Birth of Venus by Sarah Durran and City of Falling Angels by John Berendt.

It's far from "upbeat," but it's set in Rome, Venice and the countryside, right after WW II.

Funny, I started planning this trip last August (we leave Sunday!) and had all the accommodations settled shortly thereafter. I bought this book at Christmas. The protagonist has an apartment on the Via Giulia, which is where we are staying in Rome - AND he stays at La Calcina while visiting Venice, which is where we are staying.

"The Dark Heart of Italy" by Oliver Tobias - forget the sloppy "I bought a house on a hill in Umbria" trash. This book is by an English journalist who moved to Parma with work. It gives you a frighteningly accurate insight into life in modern Italy. Berlusconi, Mafia and all.

This is a country where auditors dare not ask the chairman whether the E4 billion on deposit actually exists - In Parmalats case it didn't.

This is a country where huge conglomerates simply charge their customers huge amounts in automated bank payments on a Friday afternoon because they are short of cash then close all their shops for 2 weeks to avoid the complaints. In Tiscali's case they did it.

This is a country where buiders are paid in cash to avoid tax but the poice give you an armed escort when you want to carry that E200,000 cash home!

If you want to travel and understand the people read this book.

If you do want a bit of trash - try "Vrrrooom with a view" - the witty story of an Australian that rides round Tuscany on a 1960s Vespa.

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie is a very good read but very detailed and hard going.

The perfect antidote to all the guff about Italian food: Delizia, by John Dickie, explains how all this "authentic" nonsense was invented right after the war, and reminds us just how awful food was in Italy before then - and, by extension, why food in US "Italian" restaurants is so close to inedible.

For an enjoyable insight into daily Roman life in a rare period Rome was run by a more or less sane and politically secure Emperor: the Marcus Didius Falco books by Lindsey Davis.

The best book on modern Italy: The Dark Heart of Italy by Oliver Tobias

The best good old fashioned anecdote-rich travel writer about specific Italian places: Jan Morris. His Venice book's a great deal better than the one she wrote about Trieste.

I just read one of Magdalen Nabb's mysteries, Vita Nuova. She really was a very good writer. Her books are set in Florence

I have also enjoyed Eric Newby's Love and War in the Apennines and A Small Place in Italy. These are memoirs about his time as a POW in Italy where he met his wife, Wanda, and about the old farmhouse he and Wanda bought

Editor’s comment: Do read these books on Rome in the order presented. Enjoy them as you would a good grappa, slowly. Warning: once you start reading you will be unable to stop. And you will be unable to control the urge to go to Rome and wander about Ancient-Christian-Renaissance Rome as the Romans do. DED

1-Roma, the Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor (2007) -
Tells the story of Rome’s first thousand years, 1000 BC to 1BC, from the salt gatherers at the mouth of the Tiber to Caesar Augustus. DED

2-Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin (2008) –
Simply a masterpiece. Tells the story of Lavinia, princess of Latium, who, with pious Aeneas, is destined to found Rome. Their descendants ruled for 15 generations. DED

3-The Aeneid by Virgil (29-19 BC), Translation, Robert Fagles; Introduction, Bernard Knox (2006) –
Modern verse translation of the ancient Roman epic of goddess-born Aeneas, who, following his fate, fled from the burning Troy and founded Rome. DED

4-The Secrets of Rome, Love and Death in the Eternal City by Corrado Augias (2007) –
The 15 chapters cover 2700 years of Roman life. Fascinating tales presented in an interesting fashion: “The Most Beautiful Lady of Rome” tells the story of Lucretia Borgia; “The Other Michelangelo,” of Caravaggio. DED

Rick Steves' book is without a doubt the worst book of any that I've seen.
Mr Steves uses some quaint language, for example, in reference to the Doges, “Many others just put on their funny hat and accepted their role as figurehead and ceremonial ribbon cutter. Most were geezers, elected in their seventies and committed to preserving the Venetian traditions”. Tell that to Doge Dandolo, invader of Constantinople. Maybe Mr Steve does not indulge overly in checking his facts – his book is full of errors.
He does says one very true thing, though. “If there is a negative aspect to the image Italians have of Americans, it is that we are big, loud, aggressive, impolite, rich, and a bit naive”. and “... they nearly always afford us individual travellers all the warmth we deserve”. With his approach, the warmth Rick receives may be a little frosty. Good book for the dedicated sight seeing tourist.

Just read A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman's Guide to the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City: Franco G. Romagnoli (picked up at a remainder table). Very readable and an interesting slant on Rome since the author grew up in Rome but has lived for many years in Boston

This has been my pre-Italy reading list (the star allocation is mine):

"The Agony and the Ecstasy" ****
"The Pope's Ceiling" *** by Ross King
"Brunelleschi's Dome" **** by Ross King
"The Passion of Artemisia" ****
"The Birth of Venus" * by Sarah Dunant
"Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's" by R. A. Scotti ****
"Roma" by Steven Saylor ****
"City of Falling Angels" ** by John Berhendt
"I, Mona Lisa"* and "The Borgia Bride"** by Jeanne Kalogridis
"Galileo's Daughter" *** by Dava Sobel
"The Sixteen Pleasures" * by Robert Hellenga
"The Lost Painting" *** by Jonathan Harr
"April Blood" *
"The Enchantress of Florence"** by Salman Rushdie
"A Thousand Days in Tuscany"* by Marlena di Blasi
"Under the Tuscan Sun"** by Frances Mayes
"The House of the Medici, Its Rise and Fall" * by Christopher Hibbert
"The Pope's Daughter, The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere"*** by Caroline P. Murphy

I second farrermog's suggestion of the Sally Hammond book "Just a little Italian, Exploring the south of Italy". It really makes you want to get off the Rome-Florence-Venice path and try somewhere that is not overrun with tourists.

Tobias Jones' The Dark Heart of Italy for a more balanced look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Italian society. The blurb cites Conde Nast Traveller - 'This is the book to take on your Italian holiday'.

This is a great thread. My number one is The Agony and the Ecstasy. I have read several of the others on the list and have a long way to go but one that has been recommended and I haven't gotten to yet is The Wine Dark Sea.

I haven't read all the above posts, but wanted to pass on the information about a book I just read, below is what I posted on a thread I started in the lounge.

If anyone is interested in reading about the history of the Italian language I just read La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales.

I thought it was a very interesting read especially if you have traveled to Italy or enjoy reading about anything Italy related. Besides chapters on the nation's history influencing the language there are chapters on how food and cinema have influenced the language.

Alan Moorehead's The Villa Diana; Travels in Post-war Italy (from the villa in the hills above Florence) and his war correspondent's account of the liberation of Italy and France and into Germany in Eclipse.

That book is a great look into the provincial and idiotic Italian "justice" system. Anyone who believes Amanda Knox is guilty after reading that book (which is not about the Knox case) is off his head.